War crime in Donbas: Terrorists torture Ukrainian POWs, Russia's Lifenews reports live (video 18+)
Appalling details of maltreating Ukrainian prisoners of war have been revealed as Russian militants posted a video that features how separatist ‘Somali’ battalion commander (nom-de-guerre Givi) was victimising Ukrainian servicemen that had been taken captive near Donetsk Airport. It is noteworthy that Russian TV channels Lifenews and Rossiya were covering the terrible scene.
“Do you know who I am?” he asks and punches a soldier in the face. “Do you recognise me??? My name is Givi, boys!’
“You douchebags, what for have you limped up here? Where are you from? What have you forgotten here, bastards?” the militant shouts at kneeling Ukrainians and borrows a knife from his subordinates. ‘Givi’ cuts Ukrainian flags off their sleeves and pushes them into soldiers’ mouths: “Eat it, you son of b*tch!”
“Frankly speaking, you are lucky, you’ll survive!” ‘Givi’ announces. “And you … I’ll be escorting you personally! And now eat your flag!” the terrorist told a Ukrainian serviceman whom he names ‘Colonel’.
“Look at me! How long have you been serving?” ‘Givi’ asks him. “What for are you serving? You are from Zhytomir? I promise you I’ll advance to Zhytomir and shell it – I’ll do the same you have done here. Clear? And you’ll know what is the real hell!”
Then the blindfolded prisoners’ are thrown into a car. “You morons, congratulations on being in hell!” separatists shout.
The video also shows the questioning of a wounded war prisoner (allegedly Vadim Babenko) who explains why he was in the vicinity of Donetsk Airport. Choking back tears when filmed by pro-Putin TV channel LifeNews the man says he was sent there to collect injured persons.
Separatists also took bodies of six Ukrainian soldiers. They were dragged out of the car and left on the former children’s playground. The voice of someone saying ‘Stinkers, they’ve bloodied my car!’ is heard.
The video was first posted by ‘Somali battalion’ public page on Vkontakte social media.
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According to Geneva Convention on the treatment of the prisoners of war, not only inhuman treatment, abuse and threats are prohibited; one is forbidden to use violence and exert pressure in order to extract defense information.
“No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind,” the Convention says. No prisoner of war may be deprived of his rank by the Detaining Power, or prevented from wearing his badges, the document says.
“Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention. In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are not justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the prisoner concerned and carried out in his interest,” the Convention reads.
